Exodus 8:9-15
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, "The honor is yours to tell me: when shall I entreat for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, that they may be left only in the Nile?"
10 Then he said, "Tomorrow." So he said, "May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.
11 "The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile."
12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD concerning the frogs which He had inflicted upon Pharaoh.
13 The LORD did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courts, and the fields.
14 So they piled them in heaps, and the land became foul.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the LORD had said. NASB
Sometimes I have to set back in amazement at the attitude I have. Do I really dare to put the Lord my God to the test? Every time I decide to say tomorrow what can be done in his name today I have done just that. Do I really like the frogs enough to sleep with them for one more night? All of this is to address the issue of procrastination. This is a problem that I deal with and I’m sure that many of you deal with as well.
Why do we procrastinate? I have heard a lot of answers and some of them sound intelligent and reasonable while others quite honestly seem a little mean spirited and hasty. One that I have hared within the filed of psychology is that it is a by-product of perfectionism. On the surface this doesn’t make sense but when you stop and think it doesn’t seem so far fetched. The procrastination becomes a self-handicapping mechanism to give the perfectionist an excuse to for less than perfect performance. I know it’s a bit of twisted logic but t does have a point. Then you have those that just chalk procrastination up to laziness and lack of motivation. I find this answer to be to simplistic and a little insensitive to those who are struggling with this issue. However, the point here is not to justify procrastination but to point out some of the methods that may lead to its manifestation. Just because procrastination is a coping mechanism for the perfectionist does not justify procrastination. In fact by realizing the purpose of procrastination in our lives we should be better equipped to deal with the true issue of finding our perfection in Christ, realizing that we have adopted an unhealthy way of trying to deal with our human shortcomings.
I would say the root cause of procrastination in spiritual matters would be disobedience to God. God tells us to do his will and the time table is not do it tomorrow but do it today and on into tomorrow. God intends for us to seek his will as it is laid out in the Bible and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Not only does He expect for us to seek his will but also He expects for us to do his will. We are to put action to our faith! But this is often not what we want to do. Like Pharaoh, we to decide it is better to sleep with the frogs of sin for one more night than to do the will of God. In disobedience Pharaoh chose to keep God’s people enslaved for a little while longer when God had commanded him to let my people go. Pharaoh’s procrastination was a direct response to the command of God. And, it cost him much more than he could ever imagine. In the end it cost him his son and his life but it also had an immediate cost. If he had acted immediately it would have been out of a softened heart. Instead, he chose to wait and when the next day came his heart was no longer receptive to the will of God. This has a direct parallel to our situation to day. How often have we felt the moving of the Spirit and decided to put off the decision until just a little bit later only to realize that when a little bit later came around we had lost the sense of urgency and the feeling that the Spirit was leading? I’m not advocating emotionalism but I am warning; when God speaks listen! Your procrastination and disobedience may lead to a hardening of your heart and you will be deaf to the will of God in your life.
Jeffrey D Thompson
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
10/19/1999
